Tajikistan

The leader of Tajikistan’s Islamic party will observe this week’s UK elections. Sadly, argues John Heathershaw, he may find little inspiration from the new wave of Christian candidates and parties who largely remain wedded to a narrow view of what counts as "God’s politics".

Student Umedjon Sharifov uses blow-up dolls in his voluntary work for a Tajikistani non-governmental organization around the Central Asian country's third-largest city of Kulob and he shows videos against domestic violence to men and women.

Church-backed self-help groups in Tajikistan and other parts of Central Asia are working to cope with migrant labour displacement and other social problems in an area that is both static and rapidly changing for citizens who struggle to cope with daily life.

A coalition of church-based aid and development agencies is backing a creative range of self-help initiatives in the former Soviet Central Asian republics, such as Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, which are often overlooked in the worldwide media.